Sometimes you stumble across things you had no idea about and end up rather blown away by it. For me, history especially does that. I love to find out new things about the past that I had never dreamed of before. One recent example of this was when I discovered the existence of the Kingdom of Makuria. And I had a computer game to thank for it.

That games is Crusader Kings 2, in which you guide a dynasty through the early and middle medieval period, in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, India and the Steppes. While poking around in it, I came across the Kingdom of Makuria and looked further into it. I was fascinated by what I found.

Makuria was one of three Nubian nations which rose in the forth of fifth century, the other two being Alodia and Nobatia. They were situated in what is today southern Egypt and northern Sudan. By the end of the 6th century all were Christian nations, converted after a series of missions were sent by the Byzantium Empire, eventually becoming part of the Coptic Church.

At some unknown point, possibly before 642, Makuria absorbed Nobatia into its kingdom.

Then the Muslims struck.

In December 639, the Muslims invaded Egypt, then a part of the Byzantium Empire, and had conquered it by 641. They gave the native Christian populace three choices – convert, be killed or become second class citizens with a heavy tax burden.

In 642, the Muslims turned south and attempted to invade Makuria. The exact event are unclear, as all sources come from the Muslim invaders, but at what is called the First Battle of Dongala, the Muslim were repelled with heavy losses. It appears that the Makurians fought a guerilla was against the Muslims, using their renown Nubian bowmen and superior light cavalry. The Muslims withdrew, claiming that they had not lost, and that the land was poor with no treasure worth fighting for, despite Makuria possessing fertile farmlands along the Nile and a gold mine.

In 652 the Muslims tried again, and once more suffered defeat at the Second Battle of Dongala. They besieged the capital of Makuria, Dongala, but were defeated by its walls which were defended by the Nubian archers. After heavy losses again and the refusal of the Makurian king, Qalidurat, to surrender, the Muslims struck a treaty with the Makurians.

The treaty was called the baqt, and was unique in regards to Muslim relations with non-Muslims. It was the duty of the Muslim world to conquer the rest of the world and force it to convert to Islam. Unable to defeat the Makurian, instead more pragmatic heads prevailed. According to the treaty, neither side would attack the other. The Makurians would send slaves to the Muslims with the Muslims would send manufactured goods south to Makuria. The baqt was to last for seven hundred years, making it the longest lasting treaty in history.

With its sovereignty safeguarded, Makuria grew in strength and wealth, reaching its zenith in the 8th to 9th century. It was a land of art, architecture and literature, though what literature has been found to date is mostly of legal and religious nature.

When the Fatamids were replaced by the Ayyubids in Egypt in 1171, fortunes began to decline for the Makurians. Internal difficulties began to afflict the Makurians and the Muslims began to interfere in the nation. Eventually the Mameluke Egyptians invaded and in 1312 occupied the kingdom, ending Makuria as a nation. Under the weight of the occupying Muslims, the natives began to convert.

Alodia clung on until 1504 when it too was conquered and converted to Islam, ending the long history of Christian Nubia.

It is a fascinating piece of history, and one still little understood. Sadly, much of ancient Makuria is today beneath water after the damming of the Nile, which means there may be lots we may never find out.

There doesn’t seem a lot published on the region, but I intend to track down as much as I can and obtain copies of it. Who knows, someday I may write on the subject, or use it as an inspiration for stories.

As I have mentioned in the past, I would love to have the chance to explore places that no one has ever seen before. Given the lack of options available in reality, I do so through writing, and through gaming, especially games which feature exploration.

A new game is coming out soon (well, hopefully soon), which will cater for that desire for exploration like no previous one has. No Man’s Sky is a space exploration game in an infinite universe, or at least as close enough to infinite that you can see it on a clear day. Featuring some 128 quintillion worlds, there are so many that a single person will only touch on a fraction of them and many, probably even most, may never be seen. The chances that you will come across a planet already discovered by another are low, so you will be the first to ever see many of these places. And that appeals to me.

The whole thing is procedurally generated, from planets to plants and animals and everything in between, and it looks stunning. It may very well be the last game I need to buy for a long time – I will be playing for years I can foresee, just puttering around the universe, visiting new planets, seeing the new creatures and landscaped there and generally just exploring.

Around 90% of the worlds you come across will be barren worlds, covered in deserts or ice, toxic or irradiated, and not bearing life. 10% will bare life, but only 10% of those, or 1% overall, will be flourishing. Finding those gems will be a big part of the game. Even so, all worlds will be interesting and unique and worth a visit – as long as you have upgraded your suit to survive them.

One thing I do plan on doing when I get the game is documenting my journeys through it.

Macbeth is my favourite Shakespeare play. I was lucky enough to study it twice in high school – at two different schools. Foe English Literature I did at essay on Macbeth and the changing roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. I hope I still have it somewhere, packed away in a box. I’d like to find it and read it again.

The reason I bring up Macbeth is that there is a new movie version of the play coming out. It was shown at the Cannes Film Festival to mostly very positive reviews. The trailer has just been released and it looks stunning. I cn’t wait for it.

I’ve been reading webcomics for quite a while now – some I’ve stuck with, others, due to time constraints I’ve let drop. I’m a big fan of them and how they go about telling there stories. Now if only I could draw…

But I can’t, so I write.

Webcomics, for the most, sell there stories differently than authors. They give it away for free upfront. You go to the webcomic and there it is, available to read. And yet, even doing so, some authors of webcomics earn a living. They do this by building up a fanbase through there works who then buy copies of the book, the merchandise, sponsor them like old fashioned patrons etc.

Authors tend not to work that way, at least not for those who write full length novels. For those that write short fiction and serials there are some who do so.

It is something that I am starting to try out now. I have started a new blog, Tales From a Thousand Worlds, where three times a week I’ll post my short stories in small parts of about 1000 words at a time, give or take. It is both an experiment and an effort to hopefully begin building up a collection of people who enjoy reading my stories, and do so on a regular basis.

It has been a while since I have last updated what has been going on writing wise. Probably about time I did.

I have today just finished off the rewrite of a brand new short story, in the Peregrine and Blade series. It comes in at around 11,000 words and is titled The Oasis of Broken Bones. The series has been the main focus of my writing as of late. There are currently 16 stories completed in that series, ranging from 2000 to 25000 words in length. Between them they number some 166000 words, which is a fair amount. Only seven of those have ever been seen so far. In addition, 8 more are in various stages of planning. All of them will be coming to light soon I hope.

In addition, there are some 24 other short stories and novellas in other collections gathering dust, with a number more planned.

More news on what is going to happen to them all should happen soon. At least that is the plan.

Last week my wife and baby daughter and I spent a few days on her uncle’s farm out in the country. On the way there and back we passed through a number of small country towns. As is often the case, I get a touch melancholy when passing through small towns like that because many have obviously seen better days. All the old and abandoned churches, shops, houses and schools speak of a time when they were thriving, and to see them slowly wither away touches me.

Part of the problem, as I see it, is that transport is both too fast and not fast enough. When these places were settled, there were no cars and transport was much slower. So the towns were self contained communities. As transportation became faster and faster, the need for all the services was reduced and people could move more freely. The cities sucked in all the people looking for work and the decline began.

Now imagine if we had super fast transportation, where instead of being three hours from the city, these little places were only half an hour. You’d probably find people moving out again as jumping on a fast train to take 30 minute ride into the city followed by a short walk to work is a lot faster than many commutes people make by car as is. At least I’d hope so. The big cities are getting too crowded and congested.

One thing I want to do, if I ever become a multi-millionaire best seller, is buy one of these fading old towns, or at least a part of it, and bring it back to life somehow. Maybe make it a writers retreat. Which would really require a cafe/bakery as well. Its a nice dream, though one doubtful to ever happen.

It is amazing what you can sometimes stumble across on the internet when searching for an almost totally unrelated subject.

For me, it was this guy, Prince Khaemweset. He was the grandson of Seti I, and son of Ramesses II. That is right, THE Ramesses. Ramesses the Great.

Khaemweset was the second son of Ramesses, born in the 13th century BC, and became a priest, the Sem-Priest of Ptah. What he is best remembered for is restoring the monuments of earlier kings and nobles, for which he is sometimes called the first Egyptologist.

Consider this; by the time he was born, Ancient Egypt had been around for almost 2000 years already, and many of the monuments he restored were well over 1000 years in age.

Fast forward to the Greco-Roman period over 1000 years later and Khaemweset is reborn in Egyptian literature, albeit more as a mythological hero, called Setne Khamwas. Setne was a corruption of his title, setem-priest. There are two stories we know of, and I’d like to think there are more out there waiting to be discovered.

In the first, Setne Khamwas and Naneferkaptah, he comes across as something of an adventure archaeologist, a sort of precursor to Indiana Jones, seeking out for the Book of Thoth in the tomb of Prince Naneferkaptah. Needless to say, it doesn’t go entirely as planned.

The second, Setne Khamwas and Si-Osire, involves trips to the afterlife, a magician from the past and an evil magician from Nubia out to destroy Egypt.

I’m hoping to get a chance to read them soon as they sound rather interesting. Plus I am sure there are parts of them I can use as ideas or inspiration for stories. I’m guessing that by now they have also fallen into public domain. 🙂